Ciro's

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Ciro's

Ciro's neon sign, 1955.
Location 8433 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, California
United States
Coordinates 34°05′42″N 118°22′26″W / 34.094990°N 118.373806°W / 34.094990; -118.373806Coordinates: 34°05′42″N 118°22′26″W / 34.094990°N 118.373806°W / 34.094990; -118.373806
Type Nightclub
Opened 1940
Closed 1957; transformed into rock & roll club in early 1960s; became The Comedy Store in 1972

Ciro's (later known as Ciro's Le Disc) was a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip, opened in January 1940 by entrepreneur William Wilkerson.[1] Herman Hover took over management of Ciro's in 1942 until it closed its doors in 1957. Hover filed for bankruptcy in 1959, and Ciro's was sold at public auction for $350,000.

Ciro's combined a luxe baroque interior and an unadorned exterior and became a famous hangout for movie people of the 1940s and, 1950s. It was one of "the" places to be seen and guaranteed being written about in the gossip columns of Hedda Hopper, Louella Parsons and Florabel Muir.

Among the galaxy of celebrities who frequented Ciro's were Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Sidney Poitier, Anita Ekberg, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Joan Crawford, Betty Grable, Marlene Dietrich, Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Dean Martin, Mickey Rooney, Cary Grant, George Raft, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Judy Garland, June Allyson and Dick Powell, Mamie Van Doren, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Benny, Peter Lawford, and Lana Turner (who often said Ciro's was her favorite nightspot) among many others. During his first visit to Hollywood in the late 1940s, future President John F. Kennedy dined at Ciro's.

In the 1960s, Ciro's became a Sunset Strip rock and roll club, and was the only major venue on the Strip to make such a transition while keeping its original name. The Byrds got their start there in 1964. Accounts of the period (reproduced in the sleeve notes to The Preflyte Sessions box set) describe a "church-like" atmosphere, with interpretive dancing. The club also served as the host during the recording of the 1965 Dick Dale album "Rock Out With Dick Dale: Live At Ciro's"

Co-founder Wilkerson also opened Cafe Trocadero, in 1934, and the restaurant La Rue, both on the Strip, and later originated The Flamingo in Las Vegas, only to have control of the resort wrested from his control by mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.

The site of Ciro's became The Comedy Store in 1972.[1]

Notable performers

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lord, Rosemary (2003). Hollywood Then and Now. San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press. p. 87. ISBN 1-59223-104-7. 
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